Now that MEL is short of cash, the only thing MAY is interested...

Now that MEL is short of cash, the only thing MAY is interested in is the BYE position which they would liquidate ASAP and net off against MEL's substantial historic losses. This strategy is of course hugely ironic given MAYs' CEO's role in shutting down the merger between BYE & MEL.

One other issue that might negate the attractiveness of an in-specie distribution of BYE shares is MEL's ability to monetise the circa $90 million in accumulated losses sitting on their balance sheet. Clearly, long-suffering MEL shareholders will want to access these losses to offset any hard won gains in the BYE position.

Anyone have any thoughts on how a transaction could be structured to deal with the historic losses?

BYE of course also has circa $67 million in accumulated losses, so their future net income is also shielded for a while.

Such is the joy of investing in early stage E&P firms.